This commentary focuses on the rite of purification after having come into contact with a corpse, the ritual of the Red Heifer. The animal must be completely perfect, blemish-free. The author argues that the details of this ritual defy rational explanation. She reviews the different interpretations that ancient scholars came up with to understand this ritual, ultimately arguing that as the “perfect” cow is slaughtered and destroys any false sense of our own perfection, also destroyed is the notion of any single definition of perfection towards which any of us might strive.